Top Ten Things Every Java Programmer Should Know
These are in no particular order, but these are things that
all Java programmers should probably know.
- Who Invented Java, and when?
James Gosling, at Sun Labs, around 1992; the group was building a
set-top box and started by "cleaning up" C++ and wound up with a
new language and runtime.
- What does Java stand for?
Java is not an acronym (not even Just Another Vague Acronym :-)).
The language was first named Oak, after the tree outside James'
window. The lawyers found a computer company called Oak so, legend
has it, the gang went out to the local cafe to discuss names and
wound up naming it Java; the "0xCafeBabe" magic number in the
class files was named
after the Cafe where the Java team used to go for coffee.
- What is the JLS?
JLS is The Java Language Specification. Every developer should
buy or download (free) this
specification (and maybe the JVM Spec too) and read it, a bit at a time.
- How do changes get into Java?
JCP (Java Community Process).
- Why is there no printf-like function in Java?
Actually there are! This was fixed in Java 5; see Java Cookbook (2nd Edition) Chapter 9.
Java 5 (J2SE 1.5) includes printf (and scanf), String.format(), and lots more.
- What is the GOF book?
The Gang Of Four book is entitled Design Patterns, by
Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson and John Vlissides.
This is a very good book. You should read it. Not when you're
just learning Java, but when you've let it sink in for about six months.
- What other Java book do I need?
- What is the Java Cookbook?
That's my own
book of Java recipes (for the programming language, not
the coffee, but some bookstores still wind up listing it under Cooking).
- What other Java sites do I need to know about?
- What else do I need to know?
Everything! But nobody can know everything about Java - the subject
is now too vast. Imagine somebody saying that they know everything
about every single Microsoft product and technology. If someone like
that calls me, I'm always out.